


忍び (To be a Shinobi)

by Orlha



Series: Drabbling in Narutoverse [6]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Brotherly Love, Character Motive Study, Gen, Self-Sacrifice, apparently Root wasn't fun at all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 19:09:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13014276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Orlha/pseuds/Orlha
Summary: Shin will do anything to protect his little brother. Even if means lying, killing and stealing, even if it means himself.





	忍び (To be a Shinobi)

He heaves a wispy breath into the cold air. His little brother is pressed against the side of his body, huddled to keep what warmth there is left between them. It’s easier to sleep and hope he wakes up the next day, or perhaps _not_ wake up the next day. He has difficulty telling sometimes.

 

Each day passes, and he remembers less and less of the sunny orphanage at the end of Hashirama Road. He forgets how _food_ looks like because all they feed them here is mouldy bread. Eat the bread even if it makes you sick, the oldies told him when he first arrived. He held out as long as he could before devouring it like the oldies did. He doesn’t know when the next meal would come if it ever does.

 

He pulls another breath, letting the air chill the painful bumps on the back of his tongue. He knows that ‘ _they’_ don’t expect him to survive the sealing but what ‘ _they’_ don’t know is that he will do anything for his little brother. He even holds onto his little brother’s name as much as he can. Saito, he thinks his little brother name is, maybe Saitama or Saika, but it’s definitely a Sai.

 

He runs his hand through his brother’s hair and holds onto that overwhelming feeling of love. He will outlast this. He will not become ‘ _them’._ He feels his proverbial hackles rise at the sight of them. He sees ‘ _them’_ with their blank faces and lack of emotions. _‘They’_ love nothing, ‘ _they’_ feel nothing. He won’t become ‘ _them’_ and neither will Sai.

 

He will rise, he will be something new if he can’t remember his old name. Shin. His name will be Shin and he clings to it.

  
  


 

 

He runs his tanto through the man’s throat. The hot blood spurts into the winter’s air, splattering onto him. The blood is steaming in the cold night, but he does not feel a thing. Not the slightest whisper or whimper of protest, not even the lurch in his stomach. He loosens a breath, cleaning the blood off his blade with a swift swish.  

 

He is alone now. His temporary partner is dead. His body is cold and might soon be too cold for satisfactory performance. His performance is not satisfactory. Danzo will not be pleased.

 

He returns to base and accepts his punishment as expected.

 

It is four days later that he finally returns to his cell where cellmate 13420. Shin scratches the thoughts out, with a loathing that roils in his gut. _Sai_ is his little brother, not cellmate 13420. He just thought of his little brother as another expendable. He had just become them. The thought stutters his heart and Shin has to sit for a moment just to breathe.

 

Sai is sitting opposite him, watching him. His face blank like ‘ _theirs’_ like _his_ was and Shin realises, ‘ _they say that the cold kills you. They say that hunger kills you. But that all is a lie. It’s not the dying that kills you. It’s becoming them that does.’_

 

“Sai. Your name is Sai,” Shin whispers into his ear every night he is there. He won’t let Sai forget his name.

 

_Sai._

 

He will protect his little brother from becoming _‘them’_. He slips the sketchbook in for Sai along with the paintbrushes he stole. He slips fresh buns for Sai and tells him stories of the animals out there. He tells him of the orphanage that he no longer remembers and lies to Sai with every story about that orphanage. It doesn’t matter if it’s real or fake, lie or truth. He will kill and burn to protect Sai.

  
  
  


 

 

Shin always knew Danzo caught on with his minor rebellion.  Danzo knew he couldn’t break Shin, so he’ll take Sai instead. He can’t stop Sai from killing him. Oh no, if Sai didn’t kill him, Sai would die. He will just have to die for Sai.

 

Shin holds his arms out, with a smile when Sai unsheathes the tanto. “Go ahead,” he tells Sai.

 

“Nii-san…” Sai whimpers. Oh his poor little brother, he’ll have to be stronger to survive without him.

 

“It’s okay.” Shin steps closer and takes his little brother’s trembling hand. “It’ll be okay,” he comforts him. “Everything will be okay.”

 

“But I have to _kill_ you,” Sai’s voice cracks as he speaks. “You’ll be _dead._ How is that _okay?_ ”

 

He leans in and lets the edge of the tanto press into his collarbone. “Because then we’ll have cheated Danzo. I was sick all along. The medic I saw said I won’t survive another month. Another month that would have been agony for me.  You won’t be killing me, you’ll be freeing me.,” Shin lies. Sai will never need to kill someone close to him and if that choice was between him and Sai, it would never be a choice. He made that choice on the winter’s night.

 

“Free me,” he whispers, leaning in to catch the details of his little brother’s face.

 

Sai lets out a roar and with a movement almost too fast for even Shin to see, he slices through his carotid arteries. Shin staggers and Sai catches him, lowering him to the ground. There is a fist of red burning pain as he struggles for a breath but he does it anyway.

 

“Survive,” the words barely make it out of his throat before he chokes on his blood and he smiles at his little brother. _Live,_ he mouths and then it’s all black.

 


End file.
